Sleep for more brain power

In the same way that we have trouble running a marathon if we played a football match the day before without proper rest in between, the brain cannot perform well if it is not given the sleep it needs. Having a healthy lifestyle for a healthy mind includes getting enough sleep. If we don’t give it the required rest, it will never be able to achieve its full potential.

People may think that they can avoid having to sleep fully by getting a shot of caffeine or something of the sort but they are fooling themselves. While coffee has its beneficial aspects to brain performance, replacing the need of sleep is not one of them. An adult tends to require around 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night. Skipping this routine once in a while (to finnish a project in time, etc.) works for a couple of days but already after the first night with lack of sleep, our brain no longer has the capacity to perform at its best. We are no longer as creative, our attention span is greatly reduced, memory goes out the window and our overall learning capacity is greatly reduced.

The worst thing you can do when studying for exams is to sacrifice sleep for hours memorizing or practicing solving problems. The amount we retain is so greatly reduced that the trade-off is not worth it.

Get this aspect of your life sorted out. Most people are more productive going to bed and getting up early. You might say that you are not productive at all in the mornings. That is simply not true. You might be bad at waking up and getting into gear, but there are sufficient ways to kickstart your day and get you awake in a matter of minutes. One way to do this is to set up a morning routine and then work on going to bed and getting up 30 minutes earlier each week. Not necessarily every day, although you can also do that, but going in slow increments will help you stick to it. You can also do a 30 to 60 day challenge to acquire that new habit.